ATHENS, Ala. — Athens City Schools returns to the classrooms on August 7. Beth Patton is entering her 5th year as Superintendent. "I've learned lots of lessons over the past several years as superintendent."
The school system is welcoming 50 new teachers to their classrooms this year, and they're still looking for some help in specific areas.. Patton says, "We've had a lot of turnover like everybody else in the state. Some of them are brand new teachers. Some are coming to us from other school systems. A few positions are still out there, but most of the positions have been filled."
For elementary schools in Athens, students and teachers are getting an extra layer of protection with the addition of School Resource Officers (SRO). "This will be the first year that we've incorporated school resource officers, so we're excited about that," says Patton. "This is something we've always wanted and we've worked with Athens Police Department to try to get this going, but we've just had a shortage of officers in general."
A big topic hitting Alabama schools this year? The Teachers Bill of Rights law and how it's being implemented.
For schools in Athens, Patton says, "We're already introducing our teachers to the new bill, but we haven't finalized our policy yet. We're just waiting to see for sure what the state puts out before we finalize ours."
This is a big change coming to schools, but officials are trying their best to offer full support to their teachers. "We've always done our best to support and encourage teachers in the classroom," says Patton, "We've been looking at that and introducing that to teachers to make sure they know their rights."